Promoting Spiritual Formation

As long as I'm quoting from the wise I-Monk today (see post below) I'd like to draw attention to this one too: What Could Southern Baptists (and other evangelicals) do to promote Spiritual Formation? I'm not a Baptist anymore, but I think these recommendations would be good at almost any church that is serious about making disciples.- Plus, I love Dallas Willard!

Here’s my list of ideas for How Southern Baptists (and other Evangelicals) Can Promote Spiritual Formation.

1. Lifeway can ask Don Whitney, Avery Willis, and Dallas Willard- all Southern Baptists with credibiity in this area- to develop resources for Lifeway to promote, along with an annual conference on the subject.

2. The seminaries can pay more attention to spiritual formation in the Baptist, evangelical and Protestant tradition. (I’m happy for the Puritans to get in on the game as long as the game is in progress somewhere.)

3. Churches can begin looking for pastors who take personal and corporate spiritual formation seriously, and ask that spiritual formation be reflected as a legitimate concern in preaching, Christian education, women’s and men’s ministry, student ministry and retreat topics.

4. Baptists interested in spiritual formation can form small groups within churches to train, mentor and encourage each other.

5. Baptists can resurrect the concept of discipleship training, but examine how spiritual formation relates to the entirety of life in a vocation of discipleship, and not just to involvement in Church programs and evangelism.

6. Preachers and teachers within churches can raise questions related to sanctification and Christian growth, and suggest sound principles of spiritual formation as the answer to those questions. (Most Baptists are interested in the subject of post-conversion assurance.)

7. Advocates of spiritual formation can look for places in existing church ministries and program where spiritual formation resources and teaching can be introduced. Examples would be accountability groups, leadership teams, worship teams, DiscipleNow weekends and Promise Keepers groups.

8. Youth and student ministers can introduce the concept of spiritual formation, both individually and in community, to youth ministry and student events. Many youth ministry resource sources are already exploring spiritual formation in this settings and have developed resources.

9. At every opportunity, bring together the idea of discipleship with the processes that form a person into a follower of Christ. Seek to bring the subject of “encouraging the basics of discipleship through spiritual disciplines and community into any discussion of discipleship.

10. Take a group to a church, retreat or event where spiritual formation is being discussed in another tradition, then discuss how the same concepts can be practiced in a Southern Baptist/evangelical context.